WORLD BRIEFING: September 10, 2023
Today marks 564 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine
The death toll from a powerful earthquake in Morocco has soared to more than 2,000, with a similar number of injured. The interior ministry says more than 1,400 have serious injuries, and the heaviest casualties are in provinces just south of Marrakesh. King Mohammed VI declared three days of national mourning and ordered shelter, food and other help for survivors. Many people are spending a second night out in the open. The magnitude 6.8 quake hit Marrakesh and many towns on Friday night. In remote mountain areas, entire villages are reported to have been flattened - BBC
Indian officials and diplomats were declaring victory Saturday after a consensus was reached among G20 leaders in India for a final declaration. Seven of the eight points in the section on geopolitical matters refers to the war in Ukraine but without mentioning Russia. It was a weaker statement than the one issued last year in Bali when it comes to the conflict. Separately a transport corridor linking India with the Middle East, Africa and Europe was also agreed to.
“It is a most remarkable achievement in a fractured world,” said Ashok Kantha, a former secretary in India’s foreign ministry, referring to the declaration. “It is amazing that G20 2023 Leaders’ Declaration could be finalised on day one of the summit itself, belying all doubts and apprehensions,” he told Al Jazeera. Moscow welcomed the declaration saying it was “balanced” but Ukraine’s foreign ministry criticised the final statement for not mentioning Russia’s invasion, adding that the communique was “nothing to be proud of”. Hari Seshasayee, a visiting fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank, said the reference to the war was “far more neutral” than the G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration as there was no mention of Russia in the context of war in the New Delhi declaration. Instead, the final statement referred to language used in UN bodies when it said, “all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state - Al Jazeera
As I told India’s NDTV (see video above), it would’ve been nice to see India shift off the fence and take a more firm stance against Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. I said: “I said if anyone should know about sovereignty and territorial integrity, that would be India.”
More than half of the "Wagner" PMC mercenary camp has already been dismantled in Belarus, reports the "Belarusian Gayun" monitoring group. According to the group, at the beginning of the dismantling, the camp had about 292 tents (including tents for economic needs), and at the current moment, more than 160 units, i.e. 55%, have been dismantled.
Mangosuthu Buthelezi, a towering figure in South African politics and outspoken Zulu chief, has died at the age of 95. During the racist apartheid regime, he founded the Zulu Inkatha party after becoming disillusioned with the African National Congress (ANC). Thousands were killed in clashes between supporters of the two parties in the early 1990s. But he was later welcomed back into the fold, serving as President Nelson Mandela's minister of home affairs. Chief Buthelezi was a shrewd but controversial politician, who disagreed with the ANC's tactics of armed action against white-minority rule and trod a moderate path as leader of an ethnic-Zulu homeland. He was opposed to international sanctions on South Africa, arguing that they would only harm the country's black majority - BBC
Ukraine has reported downing more than two dozen Russian drones over the country’s capital, Kyiv, as Russia’s defence ministry announced the destruction of eight Ukrainian drones near the annexed Crimean peninsula. The extent of the damage from the rival attacks early on Sunday was not immediately clear. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that at least one person was wounded in the city’s historic Podil neighbourhood and a fire broke out near one of its parks. Debris from downed drones fell on the Darnytskyi, Solomianskyi, Shevchenkivskyi, Sviatoshynskyi and Podil districts, Klitschko and the city’s military administration said.
U.K. citizen Jordan Chadwick, 31, who went to Ukraine to fight with the International Legion, has been found dead in Ukraine, Sky News reported on Sept. 9, citing the U.K. Foreign Office. According to the media outlet, Chadwick was found dead "in a body of water with his hands bound behind his back." No more details of his death were provided. Sky News reported that Chadwick previously served as a Scots guard in the British Army from 2011 to 2015. Ukraine has not yet commented on the incident - Kyiv Independent
Kyiv said the toll of the wounded from a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Kryviy Rih rose to 74, as Ukrainian forces pressed their slow counteroffensive against Russian forces in southern and eastern regions.
Ukraine has little more than 30 days left of fighting before the weather hinders its counter-offensive, the top-ranking US military officer says. Speaking to the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Gen Mark Milley said colder conditions would make it much harder for Ukraine to manoeuvre. He admitted the offensive had gone more slowly than expected. But he said: "There's still heavy fighting going on. "The Ukrainians are still plugging away with steady progress."
Romanian officials said they had found new drone fragments on the NATO member's territory near the Ukrainian border for the second time this week. The Defense Ministry said they were "similar to those used by the Russian Army." President Klaus Iohannis said in a statement that the fragments indicated "an absolutely unacceptable violation of the sovereign airspace of Romania, a NATO ally, with real risks to the security of Romanian citizens in the area." Iohannis added that he had a phone call with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to inform him of the new finding and that he had received assurances of the alliance's support - RFE/RL